Gauging political response to gas prices

Re “Running on empty on gas prices,” Opinion, May 4

Jonah Goldberg should get his facts straight before writing such things as “the real obscenity: overregulation that has kept American oil in the ground and prevented any new refineries or nuclear power plants from being built in 30 years.”

The problem is under-regulation and a complete lack of governmental oversight. A Senate report found that from 1995 to 2001, oil companies closed 24 refineries in an effort to limit gasoline supply and boost profits. These closures reduced our refining capacity by 830,000 barrels per day. The oil companies simply don’t want to build more refineries because their profit margins would shrink with the increased supply.

Moreover, the government’s antitrust efforts have been abysmal. The five largest oil companies in the world combine to control nearly 50% of domestic refining capacity and almost 62% of the domestic retail market. Merger mania has spurred a consolidation in the industry that logically results in collusion and price fixing -- a natural outgrowth of capitalism without regulation.

Goldberg is just another apologist for a do-nothing Republican Party fixated on protecting runaway capitalism despite its cost to consumers.

SID DUTCHER

Anaheim

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It was refreshing to finally see someone point out the elephant in the room regarding Washington and the gas crisis. Goldberg casts a revealing light on both parties’ useless pablum regarding dealing with high prices. Both Republicans and Democrats are resorting to the same tired rhetoric and proselytizing they have been doing for generations.

In the end, they will be as ineffectual at dealing with high gas prices as they are with most things that truly matter. But the real tragedy is not that once again Washington fiddles while the country burns. It’s that we continue to allow them to do so.

MARK MORSE

Trabuco Canyon

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Re “House OKs Bill Calling for Fines for Gas Price Gouging,” May 4

Once again Congress demonstrates its complete lack of common sense. First it approves criminal penalties and fines of up to $150 million for companies caught price gouging, a practice that has never been proved but happens to be a figment of several congressional imaginations. Then, to further demonstrate their complete lack of sense, members of Congress reject a bill that would make it easier to build new refineries that would ease tight energy supplies. The stupidity is astounding.

JACKIE WARNER

Orange

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While trying to get by as a middle-income family -- with my husband in the military -- the cost of living has gotten away from us. Living on what we have is setting us back on a monthly basis. I can’t imagine what it is like for someone trying to make ends meet on minimum wage. The cost of gasoline and energy alone is enough to break the bank. It is time that this country starts taking care of its own at home. Spending $6 billion a month in Iraq is out of control -- spend it on Americans, and let’s bring this country back to what it once was.

TONI KUKREJA

Lakewood